But now some of the most famous paintings the world has ever seen have been brought to life by an artist who recreate them in photographic form.

Maisie Broadhead has used theatre-like sets, family members and Photoshop to give works by Dutch master Johannes Vermeer and English pioneer William Hogarth a thoroughly modern makeover.

The British artist's Take the Chair project sees her relatives standing in for the Young Woman Seated at a Virginal in Broadhead's version of Vermeer's 17th century painting, and the Man with a Newspaper in her recreation of surrealist painter Rene Magritte's more modern 1928 piece.

Original: Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer's 17th century painting shows a woman sitting at a table and drinking a glass of wine while a man looks on

Life imitating art: Maisie Broadhead's photograph cleverly recreates Vermeer's artwork, this time with a woman replacing the man in the hat

Royal College of Art graduate Ms Broadhead, 32, collaborated with her mother Caroline Broadhead, a furniture and textiles designer who works in fine and applied arts, on the project.

Together the pair chose seven examples of fine artworks, all featuring a chair, and set about reconstructing the scenes in real life in order to capture a digital version of the classic painting.

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Ms Broadhead set up her recreations in theatre-like sets built in her mother's studio, before using Photoshop to give each of her digital images a 'painterly' quality.

All of Maisie Broadhead's reworkings feature a chair created by Caroline, while some of the details featured in the original paintings have been replaced by items of personal significance to both the artist and her mother.

In one of the photographs, Caroline's wedding dress has been used as a dressing up outfit for Maisie's son, who performs the role of Spain's Prince Felipe Prospero in his mother's re-interpretation of Velazquez's masterpiece.

Work by Broadhead is currently on display in The National Gallery in London as part of its exhibition Seduced by Art: Photography Past and Present.

Infante Philip Prosper: Diego Velazquez painted this portrait of Spain's Prince Felipe Prospero (left) in 1660, Maisie Broadhead's take on the painting also features a child - the artist's son - with his hand resting on a chair, but in her version the infant is wearing a feathered headband

The Tete-a-Tete: This painting is the second in William Hogarth's series entitled Marriage-a-la-Mode, in which a chair can be seen overturned in a disorderly house

Real-life version: The artist has kept the chair - a central theme in her project - in her photograph recreating Hogarth's work

The Lady's Death: This painting is number six in Hogarth's Marriage-a-la-Mode collection

Reconstruction: Members of the artist's family posed for her photographs recreating fine artworks, in which she included items of significance to herself and relatives

A Young Woman Standing at a Virginal: Vermeer's painting (left) shows a girl in an opulent home playing a virginal, or harpsichord, while the subject in Broadhead's recreation (right) is working using a sewing machine

A Young Woman Seated at a Virginal: Broadhead has used the same girl for her recreation of Vermeer's A Young Woman Seated at a Virginal (left), this time in the photograph the instrument is replaced by a desk with a telephone and a cup of coffee on it (right)

Man with a Newspaper: Broadhead also incorporated a more modern artwork in her project, this 1928 painting by surrealist artist Rene Magritte (left),